


Exit Wounds | Spencer Reid

by CharlieM004



Category: Criminal Minds (US TV)
Genre: Behavioral Analysis Unit (Criminal Minds), F/M, Fluff, Light Angst, Mutual Pining
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-17
Updated: 2021-02-24
Packaged: 2021-03-13 06:40:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 21,096
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29522385
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CharlieM004/pseuds/CharlieM004
Summary: A oneshot I made up after watching Season 5, episode 21 of criminal minds which has turned into less of a oneshot the more I write. Fluff and pining on both sides.
Relationships: Spencer Reid/Original Female Character(s)
Comments: 1
Kudos: 14





	1. Chapter 1

Within an hour of receiving the dreaded text from Hotch, the whole team were sat around the table in the conference room, waiting on Rossi to arrive before JJ started the briefing.  
Charlie could see everyone had put themselves together fairly well in the short notice they were given to get to Quantico. She had been in the shower, ready to settle down for the night and maybe order takeout, the text coming in just as she picked up her landline to call the local pizza place. She scrambled to get together an outfit for going into the office, then adding her riding leather jacket, opting to ride her motorcycle to work rather than risk the metro on a Saturday evening.  
She saw Prentiss and Morgan in the parking lot after she had parked, they always found it jarring to see her ride her motorcycle and told her so each time, which wasn’t too many occasions.

‘I just can’t believe someone so small could ride something like that.’ Morgan contemplated, causing Charlie to shove him slightly after she pulled off her helmet and tucked it under her arm.

‘I’m not even that short, I’m at least 5’7. And you say that every single time I come in on my bike.’ Charlie replied, annoyed to be having this conversation again. They walked together towards the stairs to the lobby of the building, not running into any of their other colleagues.

‘I think it’s pretty badass.’ Prentiss said to her with a smile.

‘That’s because it is, I always knew you were my favourite.’ Charlie joked, quickly striding up the stairs with Prentiss into the lobby of Quantico, leaving Morgan pretending to look hurt behind them.

‘Hey Reid, hold the door!’ Charlie called across the room, after spotting Spencer in one of the elevators, wrapped up in a coat and scarf, presumably to keep him protected from the elements as he always rode the subway to work.  
He held out his hand, stopping the doors from closing as three of his team-mates walked over to the elevators. As they stepped in, he pushed the button for their floor, then looked quizzically over at Charlie’s leather jacket and the large helmet she held onto.

‘I didn’t know you rode a motorcycle, Thomas.’ He said, studying the screen showing the increasing floor numbers, passively working out the velocity of their car.

‘There’s a lot about me you don’t know,’ Charlie started, ‘that is not an invitation to profile me. I enjoy my privacy.’ She quickly added.

The elevator came to a stop and the doors opened, the four of them spilled out, running into Hotch holding an armful of paperwork on the way to his office.

‘JJ’s already here, we’re waiting for Garcia and Rossi. Nice jacket.’ Hotch told them, looking at Charlie’s jacket, causing her to roll her eyes.

Charlie left the group, heading to the locker room to put away her helmet and jacket before another person could comment on them. She then made a coffee before making her way up to everyone else in the conference room, she could tell she’d need the caffeine, Spencer and Prentiss had the same idea, each holding a steaming cup. She had also raided the vending machines for less than healthy snacks to replace the pizza her stomach rumbled for, swearing up and down that the prices were extortion.  
Garcia walked in five minutes after Charlie had sat down, decked in her usual jewellery, intricate updo and with a wonderful smile on her face. She could always be counted on to brighten up a room, this was no different, getting smiles in response to a cheery ‘Good evening!’.  
Rossi walked into the conference room ten minutes later wearing a tuxedo with a bowtie undone around his neck, looking mildly annoyed.

‘Woah!’ Prentiss remarked, shocked at his out of place attire.

Hotch looked up at him and apologised curtly ‘Sorry to ruin your night.’

‘What, are you working on wife number 4?’ Morgan asked with what can only be described as a shit-eating grin plastered on his face, earning small smiles from the rest of the team.

‘Their loss, our gain.’ Charlie added with a small chuckle.

‘I see you people way too much.’ Rossi stated, defeated.

‘Let’s get started.’ Hotch says, relieving Rossi from any further questions about his now ruined evening plans.

JJ briefed the team on a series of murders in Franklin, Alaska, that the Anchorage field office asked them to investigate. Even with different weapons being used on each victim, there was a link in where the bodies were dumped, and with a small population of less than 1500, three people dead in less than a week was a serious anomaly.  
Hotch told the team to grab their go-bags as they’d be flying out that night, then getting a float plane to take them from Anchorage airbase to Franklin.  
When they had boarded, Hotch discussed the splitting up of the team once they reached Franklin.

‘When we get there, Morgan and Prentiss work the crime scene, we need to know exactly how he ambushed his victims. Reid, Rossi, the bodies, find out what you can there. JJ and I will work victimology and, Garcia and Thomas, town records, find us something we can use.’ Hotch knew exactly where he needed each of his agents to be most efficient, it was his job to understand the strengths of the team and utilize them effectively.  
Garcia hadn’t been asked to go out on a case in a while and her eagerness was showing, she had gotten her hands on eight satellite phones in the short time between JJ completing the brief and take off, each with pre-programmed speed dial for the members of the team.

‘Guess who’s lucky number 8?’ She asked, impressed with herself, and excited to be on the jet with everyone for once.

The plane ride was long, Spencer had read the casefile more times than usual, not that he needed to read it more than once, then moved onto one of the several books he always packed. Charlie noticed a few of his stolen glances towards where the chess set was kept, the wistfulness shaken away when he returned to his books.  
Charlie, having just downed the coffee at Quantico, was energised when the team discussed the case but slowly lost momentum as she read the full case file. She sat next to Prentiss, going over the last page 5 times in a weary haze, earning chuckles from beside her when her head nodded forward, heavy with thoughts of sleep. She was finally lulled into slumber by the gentle turbulence of the jet 3 hours into the flight, still slightly hungry from a lack-lustre attempt at dinner.  
Spencer envied her ability to sleep on the jet towards their cases, he could always sleep on the way back home but never before a case. He thought how peaceful her mind must be to stop any thoughts brought up by the case to allow sleep as he watched her breathe evenly with her head resting against the back of her chair. He wondered what she meant by what she said in the elevator, he could appreciate privacy, especially in this job, but her exact wording made him question what exactly she was hiding from the team. He ignored the latter part of her statement, not intentionally, he just couldn’t help profiling her, not now that he was intrigued. His intrigue led his eyes to linger on her sleeping frame for longer than he realised, luckily everyone was too wrapped up in their own methods of passing time to see him staring.  
He knew she was single with no pets, the rate at which she got to the office after a 911 text could not foster any kind of relationship with responsibility. Further, whenever a case got extended, he noticed that she would never make calls to explain her whereabouts, or ask someone to keep watch over any pets. He could tell work was prioritised over any social life, he could see the same quiet sadness on her face whenever she left work as he could see in himself. She had two old, multicoloured threaded bracelets that he had never seen her without, an extension of her skin, he pondered if they could be a memento from a previous relationship. He knew she must spend a lot of time at the gym due to her strong frame, she definitely had larger muscles than him, though he didn’t consider that to be particularly hard. Occasionally when he brought up books that he read on a niche topic, she would contribute something though-provoking that he hadn’t known, leaving him surprised.  
She was right, there was a lot he didn’t know about her, but he wanted to.  
Everyone was packed in like sardines in the float plane, much closer than they all preferred to be, Spencer gauged everyone’s response to the aircraft and what it said about them to distract himself from the proximity he wished would end.  
Garcia sat hunched up, staring holes into her hands that were gripping her skirt, avoiding any accidental looks out of the many windows. Morgan and Prentiss both sat with perfect posture and relaxed expressions, this did not surprise him, as he understood them to both be practically fearless. Charlie, surprisingly, had shuffled as close to the window she sat next to as possible, to Spencer’s comfort as they sat together.

‘Oh god isn’t it so beautiful?’ She said, her words full of awe, but too softly to be heard over the engine. He suddenly realised she may be talking to him and expect some kind of response so he looked at her and signalled that he couldn’t hear her. She leaned closer to him and repeated her words into his ear before leaning back and waiting for a response.  
Spencer had not expected her to get so close, usually this annoyed him, but he knew Charlie just wanted to share her thoughts, and he didn’t mind the feeling of her warm words on his skin. He then surprised himself by leaning close to her ear and responding.

‘Uh yeah it really is.’ He then followed Charlie’s eyes and smile as she turned back to stare out the window, looking past her and willing himself to also see the beauty in the landscape they flew over.  
Once they landed at the dock, Prentiss and Morgan peeled off to visit the most recent crime scene nearby, Reid, Rossi, JJ and Hotch piled into a truck to go the station. Hotch left Charlie and Garcia with all of Garcia’s equipment to wait for another truck to take them to where they would be sleeping that night. It was relayed through Hotch over satellite phone that Sheriff Rhodes has said they could set everything up in the lobby of Carol’s tavern, so when the truck came to collect them from the docks, they had a destination.  
Charlie helped Garcia as best she could with setting up her equipment and using the internet from the station across the road. Charlie made an effort to understand everything Garcia was instructing her to do, but after asking what Garcia deemed a simple question for the fourth time, she was sent out to collect the physical case files from the police station.  
When she returned with several boxes on her first trip, walking into the lobby she saw Garcia talking to a young blond man on the sofa. When he got up to leave he asked Charlie if she wanted any help with the boxes.

‘Uh no I’ve got it thanks.’ She said plainly.

‘She is one of the agents that carries a gun so don’t underestimate her!’ Garcia called over her shoulder to the younger man. He held up his arms defensively then left the tavern.

‘Who was that?’ Charlie asked Garcia.

‘Joshua Beardsley. He was interested in what I was doing.’ Garcia said, still typing away furiously at her laptop.

‘You all set up?’ After seeing an excited nod, Charlie continued, ‘Great, would you mind running through CODIS and see if anything pops up? I’ve still got to make a few trips to the station.’

After Charlie had retrieved all the boxes from the station, she could understand why it wasn’t the best place for an FBI investigation, she doubted the whole team could fit in there comfortably with the police and the files.  
She spent the rest of the day lit hours pouring over the words of many incident reports, accidents, arrests and drunk and disorderly reports dating back a year or so.  
After a much needed hot dinner provided by the tavern, Rossi made to put more logs in the fire, with the team scattered on and around the sofas in the lobby. Charlie walked from the kitchen holding a steaming mug of hot chocolate just as Hotch turned to Garcia to ask about their progress.

‘How’s it coming with the town records?’

‘I’ve run everyone who’s been printed through CODIS, nothing’s come up so far. I’m gonna pull an all-nighter, finish going through the town records.’ Garcia replied, knowing the time-sensitivity of the case meant another victim could appear at any time.

‘I’m looking into police records for previous run-ins with law enforcement, but this is a small town, I’m sure there will be a lot of unreported incidents not in these boxes.’ Charlie added, gesturing to the looming mountain of paperwork behind her, that she had barely managed to scrape the surface of that day.

‘Good work, the rest of us should get some rest, start fresh in the morning.’ Hotch said, leaving the walls to heave a sigh of relief.

‘I’ve got 4 of the upstairs rooms available.’ Carol said from the doorway, watching the reactions of the team.

‘Uh, four?’ Questioned Spencer, his mind already spinning, thinking about potentially having to share a room, or worse, a bed.

Carol smiled and nodded, silently enjoying the small panic now tangible in the air.  
Sheriff Rhodes spoke up, ‘Come on, that’s the best we can do, your team is double the size of my department.’ He then wished the group goodnight, not wanting to watch this personal scene play out.

‘Goodnight. It looks like we’ll have to double up.’ Hotch declared into the room, everyone already looking around and silently deciding who they wouldn’t mind sharing with.

‘I’m not sleeping with Reid.’ Morgan called out from his spot behind the couch, earning a small shocked look from Spencer.

Garcia reached back and grabbed his hand from the couch, ‘Dibs.’, Morgan smiled at her and let out a soft laugh.

‘Well I’m calling dibs on Thomas.’ Spencer quickly blurted out, cueing confused and apprehensive looks from the team, Charlie herself raising an eyebrow at him.  
His face betrayed the innocence behind his statement, and his eyebrows furrowed in confusion following the small smirks and scoffs shared across the room between his teammates.

‘I’m convinced she could sleep anywhere, I’m sure I’ve seen her sleep on the floor in the conference room back at the BAU,’ He quickly said, wanting to clear up his motivations before anymore accusatory glances were thrown his way.  
Charlie’s face melted into a small smile, ‘Guilty, I can sleep just about anywhere. Plus I’ll be staying down here to try and help Garcia as much as I can.’

‘Now that’s sorted, go to bed, we have a long day tomorrow.’ Hotch said, removing the last dregs of tension hanging in the air. He and Rossi grabbed their bags and made their way up the stairs after each grabbing a key from the desk, shortly followed by Spencer.

Charlie turned to JJ with a dawning realisation, ‘Wait, does this mean I’m sleeping on the floor?’  
JJ tried to hide her growing grin under her hand but let a small laugh escape.

‘I’m pretty sure that’s what Reid’s dibs meant.’ Morgan said, trying and failing to contain his wide smile. Charlie was suddenly very glad she managed to get some sleep on the comfy seat of the warm jet on the flight over.

Charlie let out a defeated sigh, ‘He’s lucky we already have one murder case to solve.’ She said pouring more annoyance into her words than she really felt.

‘Oh come on, it’s only for as long as we’re here. Maybe he’ll let you braid his hair!’ Prentiss mocked, earning whispered chuckles from everyone and a supressed smile from Charlie.

Prentiss and JJ picked up their bags and wished everyone goodnight, then made their way upstairs to settle down for the night once they grabbed their keys.

‘Well at least I don’t have to make any awkward calls to explain exactly where I am sleeping tonight.’ Charlie stated, looking over at Garcia with a smirk.

She returned the smirk, ‘With all this work I may not even be sleeping tonight, I’ll call Kevin once I’ve made a game plan for tackling this workload.’

Morgan picked up his bag and moved away from the couch, ‘All right babygirl, I’m off to bed, don’t work too hard. Night Thomas.’ He grabbed his key from the counter and threw the other one to where Garcia was sat.

‘What do you want me to do Pen?’ Charlie asked, knowing they needed to start working as soon as possible.

‘I know it will suck, like super hard, but could you continue going through those police reports and see what stands out to you, after all, you’re the profiler.’ Garcia replied, twirling her pen between her fingers and smiling sympathetically.

‘Anything for you Pen.’ She smiled back, everyone in the team was sweet on Garcia for a reason, she was the living embodiment of sunshine and it could not be contained.  
After a few more hours of work, Charlie finished writing up the last of her notes on the police records she’d gotten, noticing Garcia hadn’t slowed down on her background checks.

‘Can I help you with what you’re doing? I’m done over here.’ She asked her friend.

Garcia scoffed, then smiled sweetly, ‘No offence but you’d only get in my way. Anyway, I don’t want to keep prince charming waiting any longer.’

‘Very funny Garcia, I’ll see you in a few hours.’ Charlie shot back, an exaggerated scowl quickly being replaced with a smile.

Charlie grabbed her bag and the only key left on the counter, then made her way up the stairs, looking for the door that matched the number on her key.

‘Don’t have too much fun!’ She heard Garcia call from the lobby, causing her to shut her eyes and shake her head for a moment.


	2. Chapter 2

She knocked on door lightly before opening it, not wanting to intrude on Spencer, knowing how quickly he could become uncomfortable and also not wanting to wake him in case he was sleeping. She opened the door to find him sat on the bed reading a different book than he was reading on the jet, with the sleeping bag she would call hers still rolled up on the floor next to the bed. Spencer looked up to smile slightly and nod to her before returning to his book.

‘And here I was thinking you wanted to bunk with me because you enjoyed my company.’ She joked with him, hoping to ease his tension about sharing a room. She didn’t bring up how he was sat, still fully clothed on the bed, she suspected most of the team would still be awake, ready for the next victim to appear.

‘I figured you were the least likely to turn down sleeping on the floor.’ He said, with a small self-assured smile on his lips.

Charlie laughed softly and when he looked up from his book at her again, she smiled at him.

‘As usual, Doctor Reid, you are correct, I am not a fussy sleeper.’ She started, putting down her bags and starting to unroll the sleeping bag onto the travel mattress, ‘What are you reading anyway?’

By the time he had given an extensive synopsis on the particular book he was inhaling before bed, Charlie had sleeping bag and camping mattress were set up. He started on about how he found the book through the footnotes of another book he had finished the week prior and what that book was about, when she interrupted him.

‘I’m going to the bathroom to change into my pyjamas, which will be as many layers as humanly possible.’ Charlie said, looking through her go bag for the pyjamas she packed.

Spencer gave her a puzzled look, ‘Why do you need to go to the bathroom for that?’

She shot an equally puzzled look back to him before looking around the room as if she were being pranked somehow.

‘For some privacy?’ She said, now unsure if this is reasonable behaviour, confused as to what Spencer was thinking.

‘Oh uh of course, I can just turn away if you’d like? It’s cold in the hallway and you might run into Hotch.’ He stuttered, firmly planting his eyes on his knuckles that wrapped around the covers of the book.

The idea of Hotch seeing her in the pyjamas she packed was not one she was eager to live out, she pretended to not see the slight pink now visible on Reid’s face as she weighed out her options.

‘Uh sure then, if you don’t mind.’ He shifted his body away from her, ‘I wish we’d had more of a head’s up on where we were headed, I would have packed some thermals.’ Charlie lamented, trying to fill the silence between them.

She pulled off the jeans she had worn that day and replaced them with the now wildly inappropriate jersey shorts she always packed in her grab bag.

‘Its actually easier to fall and stay asleep and in a cooler environment due to the body’s natural temperature cycle being coldest during sleep and the associations of a colder temperature with increased melatonin production.’ Spencer explained, sounding more comfortable stating facts than making small talk. Charlie considered this for a moment, looking slightly impressed.

‘I can appreciate my body may prefer the cold, but I won’t be happy tomorrow morning when I wake up in a block of ice.’ She joked again, happier that he sounded less tense than before. She pulled off her jumper and shirt, leaving her in her cotton bralette and shorts, struggling to turn the extra-large FBI shirt she used as a pyjama shirt inside out.

‘To wake up in a block of ice you’d need to be suspended in water long enough and have temperatures well below freezing, not to mention, the possibility of –‘ He turned to look at her to tell her just how unlikely it would be that she would wake up once encased in ice, momentarily forgetting why he had turned away in the first place.

Soft blue shorts hung low around her waist, resting on her hips, held up by a ribbon tied in a bow. Spencer’s eyes were drawn up the defined contours of her abdominal muscles, his train of thought completely derailed. His gaze drifted past the tight band of her bralette, over the curve of her chest, following the hem of the neckline up to her neck where it rested for a moment.

Charlie looked up when Spencer’s sentence finished unexpectedly only to see had turned to her and now his eyes were wide, fixed to her shorts before exploring the rest of her figure. She watched him drink in her full silhouette before the reality hit her that this was Spencer. She was sure he did not mean for his look to be quite so greedy, or for his tongue to lick the corner of his lips as his mouth hung slightly open as if he were hungry for more.

‘Spence!’ she snapped quietly toward him while pointlessly trying to cover her midriff with the bunched fabric of the twisted sleep shirt. This only succeeded in bringing Spencer’s attention to the way her strong arms pressed against the shape of her chest, making his heart beat faster in his chest.

He sat frozen in embarrassment for a second or two, his eyes quickly darting over her exposed skin before pulling his head away, hiding his flushed cheeks in the book again. She untwisted the shirt and pulled it over her head quickly, red spreading across her face and neck, only furthered by his bashful response.

‘Anyway, I was only joking. I don’t actually expect to wake up as a popsicle, I’m just annoyed that I am going to be shivering all night, this sleeping bag is nice but it’s not gonna cut it.’ She said after an awkward laugh, hoping to spare him embarrassment by changing the subject and not bringing up how she caught him staring. If she had brought it up, she would’ve had to face why she didn’t stop him staring sooner, the multiple reasons starting with the thoughts the almost lusting expression on Spencer’s face provoked in her mind. Her thoughts started to wander to places it hadn’t been before, she had never thought of him in this way, but then again, he had never looked at her in that way.

‘Uh- of course you were – uh joking.’ He stuttered, trying to get his mind elsewhere to distract his thoughts from the images of Charlie out of his head. An awkward silence hung in the air as he thumbed the page he had long since abandoned and Charlie fiddled with the hem of her shirt, then both started to speak at once.

‘Sorry I wasn’t thinking-‘ He started, still keeping his face firmly away from her.

‘I should have just gone-‘ said Charlie, glancing up to the back of Spencer’s head.

She chuckled softly, ‘I’m changed now, no need to be scared.’

‘I’m not scared.’ He said adamantly, turning slowly to stare at her, still seeing the previous image of her shirtless in his head. His eyes were drawn to the neckline of the shirt draped over her collarbone, the large hole revealing the straps of the bralette he saw earlier clinging to her defined clavicle.

‘Uhuh, sure you weren’t’ She said with a wink, attempting to dissipate the rising tension in the room, causing another small blush to creep up Spencer’s neck.

He averted his eyes again, finding it much easier to look away now that she was swimming in the fabric of the huge FBI shirt.

‘Well I suppose you don’t want any of these comforters then?’ He challenged her, mirroring her teasing tone, and extended his arms over the many layers of blankets piled on the bed.

The relief at his tone clear on her face, she rolled her eyes at him, ‘Hey, no, I didn’t say that, pass me one.’

Throwing her several blankets, Spencer asked ‘Why did you pack those anyway? Most hotel rooms in hot climates have AC nowadays, so you’d be perfectly fine with warmer pyjamas.’

She sat on the sleeping bag, organising the blankets over her legs as she grabs the case file to go over again before bed, because unlike Spencer Reid, she couldn’t remember every single word of the long document after only reading it once. The thought of Spencer giving any though to what she was wearing stirred up more scandalous thoughts that she squashed down and instead tried to focus on his simple question.

She thought about his question, ‘I suppose I have so many other clothes to pack, I like to keep the ones no one usually sees compact. But Spence, please do remind me to pack emergency thermals when we make it back.’

‘I will.’ He paused shortly, ‘Can I ask you a question?’ He asked, looking over to her now sat on the floor, internally scolding himself as intrusive thoughts limited his capacity for critical thinking.

‘Go for –‘ She started before distant screams from the window interrupted her sentence.

Charlie jumped up from her seat on the floor and ran to the window, ‘What the hell was that?’

‘An animal?’ Spencer replied, trying to be helpful, but she ignored him.

She searched the dark frantically, looking for the source of the cries, ‘I can’t see anything, I’m going out there.’

She had crossed the room to grab her gun from the dresser and pull on her shoes before Spencer could tell her that she is definitely not dressed to go wandering outside at night in the snow. She opened the door to see Hotch and Morgan coming out of their respective rooms, ignoring their small confusion at her clothing, she held the gun out in front of her. She quickly rushed down the stairs, realising Garcia was not sat where Charlie had left her on the couch only ten or so minutes before. Running out of the tavern, she listened for more screams, and followed them around the side of the building, not feeling the bitter sting of the cold air against her skin. She rounded a corner to see Garcia crouched over a body, sobbing violently.

‘Garcia! Are you okay?’ Morgan asked as he ran to her, past Charlie who was looking around the scene for the unsub.

‘Garcia which direction did he run?’ She asked, Garcia responding by pointing weakly to the treeline next to where they were. She started running to the edge of the forest, using the torch attached to her gun to scan the trees for any sign of movement, the wind rustling through the branches and leaves overloading her senses.

‘Thomas! You can’t follow him in there.’ Hotch yelled to her, understanding the unsub knew the forest better than they did, and knowing if she wandered in there in her insufficient clothing in the cold, she may not come out.

Charlie let out a frustrated groan and tucked her gun in the band of her shorts, striding over to Garcia where Morgan had helped her up and led her away from the body. She helped support Garcia’s other side as the rest of the team came around the corner, giving concerned looks towards Garcia and confused looks towards Charlie’s clothes. Hotch asked Garcia a few questions, seeing if they could get any useful information, but she hadn’t seen anything as the unsub wore a hood that covered his face in shadow.

‘Morgan, take her inside. Thomas, put on a coat and run over to the sheriff station and let him know we’ve got another victim.’ Hotch ordered in his quiet and commanding way, Charlie suddenly realising just how scantily clad she was, the embarrassment was palpable but was overcome by concern for her friend. She then felt just how cold it was outside and tried not to shiver while helping Morgan guide their shaking friend back to the tavern. They sat her at the bar as she started crying, Charlie grabbed a tissue box from the nearby coffee table and handed a few to Morgan. Morgan nodded at her to leave and follow Hotch’s orders, taking the tissues and gently dabbing at her tears, knowing he had to calm Garcia down before asking any more questions.

After she had grabbed a very large coat from the rack next to the door, one that reached past her knees, Charlie walked back outside and made her way to the station across the way. She got an odd look from the officer on duty at the station when he saw the bare legs extending from her coat, but after explaining the situation, he quickly dialled for the sheriff and echoed what he had been told.

Within minutes, the whole sheriff’s department had arrived, putting up tape and taking photos of the crime scene. Charlie re-joined the team as the officer she walked over from the station with left to help his colleagues, seeing Spencer crouched next to the new victim. Morgan approached them, having also picked up a coat from inside, looking deflated.

Hotch immediately asked whether Garcia had given him anything new, and after being told that Garcia had given all she could, the team began to speculate the details of the new crime, and what this meant about their unsub. Spencer returned from looking at the body to offer his insight for the discussion the team were engaged in, cautioning a glance over to Charlie every so often. He could see that the coat wasn’t keeping out the cold from the slight shivers and shallow breaths she actively tried to repress. He wanted to tell her to go back inside and warm up by the fire, or better, take the scarf wrapped around his neck and wrap it around hers instead.

‘It’ll be light in a few hours. At dawn we’ll get everybody together and go over what we know. Rest if you can.’ Hotch addressed the team, and they left the police officers at the crime scene, heading towards the tavern. Hotch stepped away from Rossi and Spencer and made his way over to Charlie, who was hanging back. Spencer’s focus drifted from Rossi’s words to Hotch’s movements towards Charlie, he gathered what Hotch would tell her, and he knew that she would definitely be embarrassed.

‘You shouldn’t have run into the snow dressed like that, we can’t afford for you to get sick.’ He told her in a hushed tone, not looking to bring the attention of more police officers to her. She silently agreed with him, the slow heat rising in her cheeks camouflaged by the rosy hue on her skin brought on by the frigid wind. She walked back into the tavern, shedding the large coat, and sitting on the edge of a sofa by the fire still crackling in the fireplace. She held out her palms while reprimanding herself for her recklessness, of course she had to embarrass herself like this in front of the whole team and sheriff’s department. Biting at the skin on her fingers, she repeated harsh words in her mind, she did not hear Spencer enter the lobby shortly after her over her own thoughts.

Spencer followed her into the tavern, and he hadn’t meant to stay quiet and unnoticed but her breathing had finally slowed and just like on the jet, time passed quickly and he found himself lost in the rhythm of her breaths. He didn’t want to interrupt the silence he witnessed, though he did notice her nervously biting her fingers and concluded her mind was not as at peace as it seemed. Hotch and Rossi walked in some time later, causing the breeze from the door to make Charlie shiver and wake from her thoughts, Spencer silently cursed them for disrupting her soft rhythm. Hotch walked past where Spencer stood and up the stairs, Rossi paused briefly, looking slyly from Spencer to Charlie before elbowing him gently and nodding towards the woman curled up on the couch. After Rossi had made his way upstairs, Spencer decided to distract Charlie from being lost her own thoughts, something he knew all too well about.

‘Charlie?’ His voice was soft and called from behind her, her trance broken, she turned around to meet the deep hazel tones of Spencer’s eyes. The reflection of the flickering fire she could feel warming her bones enhanced the wide spectrum of autumn colours contained in his irises.

‘You’ll be warmer upstairs, heat rises. Trust me, I’m a doctor.’ He said with a smile, again in a soft, barely-there voice. She nodded with a slight smile, much to Spencer’s pleasure, still completely lost in the myriad of hues swimming in his eyes she could have sworn weren’t there just a few hours ago. It was hard to rip her eyes from his, but she knew if she didn’t something on her face would give away how vulnerable he had made her feel. In the time it took for them to climb the stairs and enter their room, Charlie still had not managed to purge the mosaic of amber and gold of Spencer’s eyes.

‘I can’t believe I ran out there dressed like this.’ She finally said, distracting herself from the persistent images occupying her thoughts. She lifted the back of her shirt to remove the gun she had tucked in the waistband of her shorts, missing Spencer’s eager stare at the sliver of exposed and goose-bumped skin.

‘I can. You heard someone screaming, nothing could have stopped you from running out there.’ Spencer said, confident in his words, leaning against the dresser and willing her to not drop the hem of the large shirt. Lowering the bottom of the shirt over the small of her back, she smiled to herself; what he said had made her feel better. Who cares if Hotch had seen her in her pyjamas? He also saw her run half naked towards a forest in sub-zero temperatures for the slim chance that she could catch a murderer, not to mention the numerous other compromising situations everyone in the BAU experienced on a semi-regular basis. She was pulled from this relief when hit with a sudden chill that made her teeth chatter, so she made to lay down on her makeshift bed, hoping to get at least a few hours of rest.

‘If we put all the blankets on the bed, I’m sure you’d be warm enough to fall asleep.’ Spencer suggested, giving Charlie pause for a second.

‘I thought you were sleeping on the bed?’ She asked, mirroring his innocent tone, and gazing softly into his eyes for the second time that night. He went to pick up the book he was reading earlier, ‘I think I’ll just read instead.’

She didn’t push him for answers as to why he was avoiding sleep, she instead grabbed the blankets he had thrown her earlier off the floor and spread them on top of the blankets already there. She then walked around to the far side of the bed and crawled in, being careful not to disturb the neat pillows Spencer had propped up earlier on the other side of the bed to lean on as he read. She laid on her side, facing away from the door and Spencer, opting to gaze out a small gap in the curtains at the spattering of stars in the night sky. She then felt the mattress depress behind her, realising that Spencer meant to still sit on the bed while he read, she felt an odd swell of pride at his comfort in her presence. After a few minutes of silence littered with the quiet sounds of pages being turned, Charlie thought back to before the incident outside had occurred.

‘What were you going to ask me Spence?’ She pondered aloud; her eyes still fixed on the world beyond their window.

Spencer recognised the use of his nickname and how nice it sounded coming from her mouth in a more casual and intimate context compared to its earlier use by her.

‘Why do you ride a motorcycle?’ He asked, tentatively looking up from the page he had been halfway down to the soft outline of her face.

She was surprised at his question, but she had come to learn it was not uncommon for Spencer Reid to surprise her. His mind worked in ways she wasn’t even sure he understood, her confusion came from exactly why he asked this question though. She was silent for a while, going over the question in her mind, having to introspectively examine herself in the critical way she would an unsub. She rolled onto her back and stared at the ceiling as she answered truthfully.

‘I suppose it’s because as a child I always saw the main characters ride them in TV shows and wanted to be as cool as them. Though I suppose you have a theory? Something about needing to have controlled experience with danger in my everyday life stemming from some traumatic event in my childhood.’ When she finished speaking she looked directly into his eyes, searching for approval of her answer, finding a familiar kindness in his expression as their eyes met.

He found himself surprised at the masked earnestness of her answer, it was difficult to profile in any case, but profiling yourself required a level of self-awareness that no one really wants to address. He supposed that there were many things he didn’t know about her but he was closer to earning enough of her trust for her to confide in him about these things.


	3. Chapter 3

After 15 minutes of his quiet ramblings, Spencer realised that Charlie had drifted off to sleep from the soft, even breaths escaping her lips. Once he had this realisation, he found it hard to keep his focus on the words printed on the page in front of him. His eyes slowly migrated away from the last words he had read, across the page to the edge of the book where he stole glances at the sleeping woman.

Charlie slipped from consciousness, Spencer’s soothing voice rocking her mind to sleep. She would forget her dream as soon as her eyes opened, but the implications of it would alter the way she saw Spencer.

He couldn’t begin to fathom just when he had become so comfortable in her presence, he wondered if it was because she was now asleep, allowing him to bear witness to her most vulnerable state. He had seen her sleep before, so had the rest of the team, but this felt completely different, miles away from her almost superficial sleep on the jet. She seemed comfortable as if no one were watching her at all; it almost angered him that the others had seen her like this. He understood the irrationality of his feelings but could not deny their existence, lying to himself would only distract from the serenity of his senses.

Before he understood what was happening, he had given into his thoughts completely.

Traces of the floral perfume clinging to her pores hung in the small space between them, mingling with the soft fragrance of smoke from the fire still burning downstairs that had sought its way through the floorboards. He closed his eyes and took deep breaths, each one an attempt to immortalise the unique aroma of the atmosphere.

Her warm, even breaths landed on his elbow, below the rolled-up sleeves of his shirt, whenever her head was rested in just the right place. Strands of her hair tickled his forearms where he had lowered the book to rest on his lap, long forgotten.

He studied the way her limbs moved under the many blankets, occasionally reaching an elbow or hand towards where he sat on the bed. Sections of her soft hair had fallen onto her face, obscuring the view Spencer had since grown accustomed to. He fought every urge that told him to brush it off her cheeks and sweep it from her forehead, imagining the feeling of his knuckles against her skin.

He noticed the cute way Charlie’s nose would twitch vaguely against her hair, bringing his attention to her defined cupids bow. A shine was still visible on her lips from where she had wiped lip balm across them before getting into bed, Spencer had pretended at the time that this had not single-handedly caused a significantly rise in his heart rate.

Faded scars were visible on the lobes and helix of her ear, poking out from behind a curtain of hair, he could picture her with the jewellery that accompanied the marks. He remarked to himself that he hadn’t ever seen her wear earrings or other jewellery to work, only the worn braided bracelet he knew must be sentimental. He spent a while mapping many constellations onto the moles spread across Charlie’s face, cementing their exact positions in his memory.

Spencer swore he could hear the beats of her heart if he stopped breathing, synchronised with the slight pulsing on her stretched neck. He fantasised about how her strong pulse would feel against his fingers, against his lips.

He could imagine the taste of her mouth, immersed completely in his commanding thoughts. Notes of the coffee that she had no doubt been drinking non-stop throughout the day, sweet hints of the hot chocolate she savoured after dinner, all thinly veiled by the unmistakable peppermint of toothpaste.

Sensations flooded Spencer’s mind; his thoughts swam in every fibre of Charlie’s being.

The sudden brightness of sun shone through a break in the curtains, a beam of morning light caressing her skin, illuminating the many intricate textures.

He heard Hotch conversing with Rossi in a hushed voice in the corridor, he didn’t understand why, but he couldn’t let Charlie be woken up by any other voice than his own, not when he was capable and willing to ease her awake himself.

Allowing the back of his hand to graze her cheek ever so slightly, he spoke softly to the sleeping woman, ‘Charlie, it’s time to wake up.’

He was careful to pull his hand away from her face before her eyes scrunched more closed as she roused from her deep sleep. Her eyes slowly blinked open in the harsh light of the sun beam, holding arm over eyes before turning from her back onto her side towards Spencer.

‘Good morning,’ She grumbled, her morning voice made him grateful only he had heard it, something special that no one else had the pleasure of hearing.

‘I needed that, thanks for letting me sleep.’ She continued, unaware of the effect her slightly hoarse voice had on the man sat next to her.

‘I didn’t let you sleep, you handled that on your own.’ He joked back while trying to slow his pulse, pulling a smile onto her face, a smile he had missed in the hours he had seen it last.

‘I meant thanks for letting me sleep on the bed.’ She said in a more serious tone, understanding they were now physically closer than he had been with any other members of their team.

‘Sure, I didn’t want you to get sick.’ She opened her eyes to see the words leave his mouth, imploring him to keep talking.

The view of Charlie looking up at him from her bundle of blankets rendered him speechless and thoughtless until her voice brought him back to the reality of his situation.

‘Are you still reading that book? It’s been at least a couple of hours; the Spencer I know would have finished that in less than an hour at a leisurely pace.’ She mused, still clinging to the warm comfort of the blankets.

‘Uh I did finish it, I’m just reading it through again.’ Spencer lied, ashamed at how rehearsed the words sounded.

She seemed satisfied with his answer, he thought himself lucky that she was too sleepy to catch the obvious lie, he would not have been able to make up a more convincing one if she had asked.

Both of Charlies arms emerged from under the blankets as she stretched up past the headboard before tucking both her hands behind her head. She flexed her muscles under the guise of more stretching, feeling a spike of pride when looking up to see Spencer’s blind and bashful panic.

‘I need to wake up properly, I’m going to grab a quick shower then I’ll meet you downstairs for breakfast.’ She said after a deep breath and exaggerated yawn, not really wanting to leave the bed or who was in it.

She lifted the blankets off her body, swinging her legs off the side of the bed. She grabbed the still folded blankets on the vanity, and the clothes she would wear that day, opting to change in the bathroom.

Spencer could not help but feel slightly disappointed, he then shook those thoughts from his head and straightened up, ready to meet the team downstairs and face the day.

When he had reached the tables filled with various breakfast foods, Spencer noticed both Garcia and Hotch were missing. He took one of the spare seats at the table Morgan and Prentiss occupied, talking among themselves, across from the bar where JJ and Rossi were sat, eating and talking.

After a blissfully cosy shower, Charlie changed into her clothes for the day and dropped her towel and pyjamas back to her and Spencer’s room, the smell of breakfast beckoning her downstairs.

‘Glad to see you’re wearing more clothes today Thomas.’ Morgan teased as she stepped into the room.

‘I’d like to see you running after a serial killer in the dark through 4 inches of snow in only your pyjamas Morgan, it’s not as easy or as glamourous as I make it look.’ Charlie replied with a cheeky smile while grabbing a slice of toast from the middle of the table.

Prentiss and Spencer chuckled openly, even Morgan couldn’t help a little smile.

She took the final seat at the table next to Spencer, buttering her toast and eating it in a few quick bites.

‘How was the floor?’ Prentiss asked innocently.

Spencer’s eyes widened in mild panic as he thought she might tell them the truth of their sleeping situation, that he had let her sleep in the bed as he ‘read’ his book all night. He knew that this would only bring more jokey questions, forcing him to lie to more professional profilers which was not his idea of fun.

‘I told you, I can sleep anywhere.’ She stated truthfully, choosing to mask her vague answer as she knew better than to lie to her team, even in the smallest instances.

Hotch walked in through the front door to address the agents.

‘I hope you’ve all had your fill of food and rest; I told the sheriff’s department to meet us here to present our profile in about 5 minutes.’

Once they had provided the officers with their profile, Hotch dismissed the group, ‘Let’s move.’

He asked Charlie to continue her work from the previous day and pick up the slack while Garcia kept resting, the rest of the team split into pairs sent looking for suspects armed with the comprehensive profile.

Charlie spent the first few hours of the day going through the notes she made the previous night and cross-referencing them with the names of suspects that had been brought to the station throughout the morning. Every 15 minutes she would get another call on the satellite phone, giving her more names to search through her papers for. Noon had barely registered in her mind when Spencer and JJ came in to analyse Garcia’s background profiles, focusing on the main suspect and his connections to the victim.

She was buried within domestic disturbances of the Spring when a familiar figure entered her peripherals, Spencer had come to fill her in on what he and JJ would be doing for the rest of the day. He found himself adding extra words and context to his sentences, wanting her attentive eyes on him forever, revelling in her slow blinks and small nods.

They all settled into their work, with minutes passing by like seconds, consumed in the words they read.

‘Hey. What are you guys working on?’ Prentiss asked as she walked into the tavern, taking the three agents slightly by surprise.

‘Hotch asked if we could go through Garcia’s background profiles with Charlie’s records to try and find a link between Joshua and the four victims.’ Spencer said, inwardly cringing at his use of Charlie’s first name, sounding too intimate for the public setting.

Charlie’s focus lifted from the pages when she heard her name, the first time she had looked up since JJ and Spencer had walked into the tavern.

‘You find anything?’ Prentiss asked, looking between her three teammates.

‘They all had hunting licences.’ Spencer said, knowing his words were true, however ultimately unhelpful.

‘That links the whole town.’ Charlie added, fed up with her fruitless task.

Prentiss let out a frustrated sigh, ‘Needle meet haystack. Yeah, we need the big guns.’

‘Ripped and ready to rumble’ Garcia appeared at the bottom of the stairs.

Charlie turned around in her position on the table stacked with records and reached for her friend’s hand, ‘How are you doing Pen?’ She squeezed her hand comfortingly, receiving a reassuring squeeze in response.

‘I’m good, I’m lucky I had not one but two knights in shining armour to rush to my aid.’ Garcia gushed with an attempt at her usual light-hearted tone, the profilers not missing the lack of energy they had come to associate with their technical analyst.

‘Uh, maybe you should sit this one out.’ JJ suggested, concern filling her face.

‘No, Jaje, I’m okay,’ She sat between JJ and Spencer on the couch, ‘let’s put this bastard where he belongs.’ Her tone was determined, the concern on her friend’s faces shifting to sympathy.

‘Joshua Beardsley?’ Garcia questioned, seeing the name on the papers in front of her.

‘Yeah, we think he’s our unsub’ JJ clarified.

‘No, he’s not’ Garcia said, completely sure of herself.

‘He fits the profile. Abandonment issues triggered by his father’s recent death, hunting experience-’ Spencer started to list the qualities Joshua shared with their profile, unaware of the woman rounding the corner.

‘Reid.’ JJ interrupted him.

‘Experimentation with animals-’ He continued, too caught up in his explanation to see the urgent stares from him to the tavern owner coming from the back room with tears in her eyes.

‘Reid’ Charlie echoed, widening her eyes toward him, he immediately caught her tone and use of his last name, turning to follow her eyeline to see Carol.

‘You arrested my son?’ She asked, teary eyed.

‘We brought him in as a precaution.’ Prentiss assured her.

Everyone shared a silence as she left the tavern in a hurry, Spencer sought out Charlie’s eyes to apologise without words, she sent back a small, sympathetic smile, letting him know he is not to blame.

‘I’m telling you it’s not him’ Garcia finally admitted, breaking the wall of quiet that had built up in the room.

‘What makes you so sure?’ JJ pressed her.

‘Because the unsub ran away from me.’ Garcia reasoned, as if that obviously ruled out Joshua as a suspect.

‘Of course he ran. He knew you were FBI.’ Spencer returned, pushing her to continue her train of thought.

‘But Joshua knows I’m a techie. He knows I don’t carry a weapon. If he was the unsub, I’d be dead right now.’

Charlie considered Garcia’s reasoning, she didn’t realise just how much of their jobs had rubbed off on her, she made a fierce profiler.

The agents were joined by Morgan and took it in turns to fill Garcia in on the new developments of their profile as she initialised her systems.

‘Wait a minute, you said the unsub has abandonment issues. And Craig Ramey was leaving town, right?’ Garcia asked, Spencer saw an idea forming in her mind.

‘Yeah, he couldn’t wait to get out of town.’ Prentiss confirmed for her.

‘Okay, uh, let’s see-‘ Garcia mumbled as she clacked away at her keyboard, ‘Dedaimia Swanson was retiring in a month, she was moving to Florida.’

‘What about the other two?’ JJ asked, eager to see if this could be the link between the victims.

‘Uh Jon Baker just bought property in Fairbanks, and he and his wife just separated. She just filed the divorce papers.’ Garcia corroborated.

‘Well, welcome back, red delicious.’ Morgan said with the smile on his face clear in his voice.

‘Take a bite out of this. So far 3 of our victims were on the fast track to getting out of town. And let’s see… connect 4. Brenda just accepted a job in Seattle.’ Garcia’s tone was almost normal again, but Charlie could hear subtle notes of exhaustion in her words.

‘Anyone else look like they might be leaving town?’ Morgan inquired.

‘Um, I got one, Kat Allen. She was accepted to the summer honours program at the university of Bloomington. She currently works as a waitress at Big John’s Coffeehouse.’ She answered after searching her systems.

Morgan started to praise her, ‘Penelope, you are-‘

‘So ready to go home.’ Garcia cut him off.

‘Prentiss.’ Morgan said, nodding towards the door, Prentiss stood and followed him out of the inn.

Morgan and Prentiss returned within the hour, having retrieved Kat from her work and placing her in protective custody at the station.

After a filling dinner Hotch sent them all to bed, both Spencer and Charlie were exhausted from reading reports all day. Spencer went to take a shower and change into his pyjamas in the privacy of the bathroom, leaving Charlie to change into hers alone in their room.

Walking back into their room after a curt knock, Spencer found Charlie already laying in the bed clutching the covers and shivering slightly. He also noticed that the sleeping bag had been rolled back up, causing him to smile into his chest briefly. She looked towards him to analyse his expression for any indication she had impeded too much by assuming she could sleep in the bed again. Fortunately, she was good at her job and had read his body language towards her throughout the morning and afternoon correctly.

‘I forgot just how chilly it is in this room.’ She said, exaggerating her movements to sell the illusion that she was cold, feeling like she needed a valid reason to be back in the bed.

‘I’m not surprised, considering what you’re wearing.’ He teased as he lifted the duvet and sat in the bed, as if he were going to spend the night reading again.

‘I’ve been thinking.’ Charlie announced, staring up at the ceiling and tracing the texture of the duvet with the hand resting atop it.

‘About what?’ He asked hesitantly, apprehensive of her answer.

‘The case,’ She started, and Spencer immediately felt the tension leave his body.

‘The kills are scattered across town, and our unsub lacks sophistication. It looks immature.’ She shared her speculations, knowing he would understand where she was coming from.

‘It does, you’re right.’ Her sudden insight surprised him, he hadn’t considered that aspect before, but now she had laid it out for him, it felt obvious.

‘Make sure you get some sleep tonight Spence; we all need to bring our A-Game tomorrow.’ She said as she turned away from him and closed her eyes, knowing that he would have sat like that all night if she hadn’t let him know it was okay for him to sleep.

She felt the mattress shift behind her as Spencer adjusted his pillows and laid down, he was grateful for her permission to sleep, he had last slept on the jet for a meagre six hours.

He slipped into a deep sleep, soothed by the warmth and fidgeting of the woman lying next to him, his dreams laced with intimate thoughts he couldn’t confront or control when awake.


	4. Chapter 4

Charlie woke with a start by three concise knocks on the bedroom door, not wanting to move she dropped an arm over the figure lying next to her.

‘Can you get that?’ Her groggy voice coupled with the weight of her arm across his chest shook Spencer from his sleep. He rushed over to the door opening it only enough for Hotch to see his face, wiping sleep from his eyes as Hotch addressed him.

‘There’s been another victim, get changed and be downstairs in 5.’ Hotch said urgently, swiftly leaving to wake the rest of the team.

Spencer closed the door, swaying while holding it closed.

‘What was that about?’ Charlie called half-heartedly from the bed, and he then relayed the instructions Hotch had given him. He turned to face her, seeing her exact position on the bed; she had drifted from her side of the bed and encroached on his side, making him wonder how long she had been there. Surely, she hadn’t been like that when he woke up, he would’ve remembered the proximity. He cursed himself for not taking a second to familiarise himself with his surroundings before he hopped out of bed.

Chasing the sleep from her head, Charlie stood up and pulled off the shorts that were previously covered by the large shirt she had slept in.

She looked up to Spencer, secretly enjoying the panic on his face, ‘You heard him, we need to be dressed and downstairs in five. I’ll turn around.’

She turned and proceeded to pull off her shirt before Spencer had even acknowledged her words, he watched as the shirt revealed her black underwear and lower back. He quickly turned with a sharp exhale before she became too hard to look away from, neither acknowledged the many small, intercepted glances at the others body.

When Charlie finished dressing and had pulled her hair into a more manageable style, she opened the curtains slightly to admire the view, not turning back until she could no longer hear Spencer changing behind her.

‘We should get downstairs.’ He finally spoke, making his way to the door.

Rossi, Spencer, and Charlie were informed by Hotch on how Carol had been murdered that night, the woman’s heart swelled with sympathy as she guessed their task for the morning. They were then sent to the station to release all the suspects that had been kept in jail that night, and more importantly to tell her orphaned son about his mother’s fate.

‘You guys finally realise I’m innocent?’ Joshua asked, glad to be out of the cell he’d spent the night in.

‘Joshua, please have a seat.’ Charlie instructed with softness in her eyes and voice.

She hated this part of her job, her soul ached more every time she watched someone break down after being told that a loved one had died, even more so when the person responsible was still free. She saw a reflection of her own grief in his denials, the dawning feeling of isolation taking root on his face one she was intimately familiar with.

‘Joshua, we know you need time to mourn, but the fact of the matter is, the man who did this is still out there, and we think that you can help us find him.’ Spencer pleaded, trying to reason with him.

‘You had me locked up while she was-‘ Joshua winced, ‘I could have helped her.’

Rossi stopped him, ‘If you had gone to her, there’s a good chance you’d both be dead.’

Charlie understood his need to blame someone for his senseless tragedy, they were a convenient target of his rage.

‘Please, we need your help.’ Charlie asked again, ignoring her hesitation to keep asking him questions by reminding herself that they still had a job to do.

‘Why me?’ Joshua questioned, lifting his head from his hands.

‘The murders began when you returned to town. Now, up until now, he’s only targeted people who were trying to leave, but for some reason, with your mother, it was personal.’ Spencer explained, making an effort to choose his words carefully.

While the men probed Joshua for more information on why his mother was targeted, Charlie analysed the pain on the grieving man’s face. She knew he would never stop blaming himself for what had happened to his mother, she hadn’t stopped even after 10 years had passed since the source of her tragedy. Between his back and forth with Rossi and Joshua, Spencer cast glances to Charlie, her glazed eyes indicating she wasn’t fully present in the moment.

‘Did your mother ever take anyone in at the inn who had family problems? Maybe someone who had been kicked out or lost someone unexpectedly?’ Rossi continued his line of questioning, hoping for answers to lead their investigation in a new direction.

Charlie’s thoughts were disrupted when a new, almost imperceptible emotion appeared on Joshua’s face. She saw the microcosm of realisation in how his eyes widened marginally, his gaze no longer focusing on the agents interrogating him.

‘No. No, No. There was nothing like that. Uh, listen, can I go see my mom now?’ She heard him say, his voice and sudden behavioural shift mirroring the emotion she could read in his facial features.

Deputy Flack followed Joshua as he left the station, Spencer and Charlie sharing a look that was a mix of concern and suspicion.

‘Did you see his behaviour shift from wanting to help us to wanting to leave?’ Spencer shared his observation with his colleagues.

‘He’s lying.’ Charlie concluded for him.

‘Because he knows who the unsub is.’ Rossi asserted, voicing everyone’s thoughts. The pit of Charlie’s stomach turned, she knew what Joshua was feeling, and more worryingly she knew the extent to which people in his position went to wreak revenge. 

They all returned to the inn with no more answers than they started the day with and frustrated at their lack of progress.

Charlie bent over and was lent against the sofa between JJ and Spencer with her hands clasped together, wringing her fingers absent-mindedly. Her unease was not lost on Spencer, he had grown used to her easy smiles but had not seen one on her face since their interaction with Joshua Beardsley. He hated that he didn’t know how to cheer her up again, especially when he wasn’t feeling overly cheery himself, so when the opportunity to leave the inn presented itself, he jumped at it.

Hotch, Spencer and Rossi followed sheriff Rhodes to the station to review the images of the mutilated animals found in the woods. Hotch informed the sheriff that the profile needed to be adjusted, accounting for the animals being the first victims of the unsub.

Spencer echoed the words Charlie had spoken the night before as they discussed the case, ‘We said the kills were all over the map. The unsub lacks sophistication and shows immaturity in his kills because he is immature.’

Hotch left the station with sheriff Rhodes, returning to the local school with more questions to ask the teacher they had interviewed the previous day. Rossi and Spencer walked back to the inn to tell their team about the new development in their unsub’s profile.

When Spencer repeated their conclusions, he looked at Charlie directly, silently recognising her contribution. Giving a grateful nod towards him, a small smile crossed her face, a smile that lifted a weight pressing on his gut.

Hotch called the group on the way back to the inn to give Garcia a head start on getting information on their new suspect Owen Porter, Garcia repeating the name back to him while quickly typing it into her systems.

‘I’ve seen that name.’ Charlie flicked through the pages of her papers, ’Here. The office has been called out to the Porter house several times for domestic disturbances, they suspected abuse but couldn’t get anything concrete on the husband. His wife and son covered for him.’ Her face fell as she spoke, thinking about the many unsubs they investigated with pasts filled with similar abuse and neglect.

Spencer leaned over to where she held the incident reports she was reading from; he couldn’t see any mentions of suspected abuse. He pondered how she had read between the lines of what was written and made inferences from it, she had separated those files from many others, even if she hadn’t consciously known that it was connected to their case. He thought she was truly amazing.

‘Spencer, Hotch wants you to meet him at the Porter house, I’ve already texted you the address.’ Garcia said after she and Hotch had finished talking. Spencer moved away from Charlie and quickly followed the deputy to her car after she offered to drop him to the unsub’s house before returning to the station.

‘Talk about abandonment issues. Owen was left victim to the abusive hand of his father.’ Rossi said with disdain, his face marked with a frown.

‘Joshua’s return probably derailed Owen’s stability.’ Morgan continued along Rossi’s reasoning.

‘Add to that the accidental shooting of Jon Baker and he snapped.’ JJ added.

‘He got off on that first killing. He had to do it again.’ Rossi remarked, mildly disgusted at his words.

‘So, he targeted people trying to leave town.’ Morgan said.

‘People he felt were abandoning him; when people leave, he gets hurt.’ The sound of empathy flowed through Charlie’s words as she stared at the sparks being spat out by the fire.

‘He resented Carol for taking Joshua away, so he killed her to make sure he never left again.’ JJ spoke up.

Rossi asked the question everyone was thinking, ‘But where would he go now?’

‘We’re surrounded by waterways and mountains. He could be anywhere.’ Garcia said hopelessly.

Deputy Flack rushed through the door, out of breath, ‘We’ve got a problem.’

Garcia and JJ stayed at the inn as the other agents set out with Flack to the area of woods where someone had reported seeing a hunting party. When they arrived, they put on their vests and unholstered their guns, pursuing the group they could barely see through the trees.

A shot rang out, making the group stop for a moment before quickly continuing the pursuit.

After receiving a short call from Hotch, Morgan stopped the group again, ‘There’s a new plan.’ he announced.

The group circled back to the car where they drove straight for lake Lafayette, where they approached Owen’s boat and saw a group of hunters with their guns aimed at the boy. Running silently towards the men stood at the end of the pier, Charlie saw that Hotch, Spencer and the sheriff had surprised both the unsub and the hunters by waiting in one of the nearby boats.

‘Are you kidding? You’re outnumbered and outgunned. Who do you think has the higher ground here?’ Josh goaded to them, happy he would get to enact justice.

‘I’m pretty sure we do.’ Rossi contended as the agents held up their guns confidently.

The group of hunters turned to see the four guns trained on them. Three of them slowly lowered their guns to the floor and encouraged Joshua to do the same as he protested.

Josh raised his gun to where Owen stood in the boat about to shoot before Rossi fired a round into his arm.

‘You shot him.’ Keith Graves expressed, holding his wounded friend.

‘He’ll live.’ Rossi declared; his words void of sympathy.

Morgan and Charlie moved in to pick up the guns from the floor as Prentiss arranged the hunters and their intended victim.

Spencer and Charlie shared quick looks of concern towards each other, giving assured nods to the other as a response.

When they reached the float plane that would fly them back to Anchorage where they would start the long journey back to Quantico, Spencer insisted Charlie sit next to the window again. He desperately wanted to see the same wide-eyed wonder plastered on her face as she watched the scenery as was so prominent on the flight over.

The shorter flight seemed as though it had finished before it had even started for them both, Spencer appreciating the many details of Charlie’s awe, unaware that she was savouring every second of their closeness.

Most of the agents were excited to get back to their jet, finally getting their own space to sleep after a long day. However, Charlie did not want to think about how she may need to sleep further from Spencer than she had spent the past two nights. Her fears were vanquished when Spencer chose to sit next to her, out of the other choices on the jet, making easy small talk with her.

Spencer returned from the back of the plane to where Charlie was joking with Garcia and Morgan who were sat across the narrow aisle. Setting a hot cup of coffee on the table in front of him, he slid into the seat next to her. She then extended her legs over his lap one at a time as she leant against the window behind her, smiling innocently when he furrowed his eyebrows at her, baffled.

‘This is just payback for making me sleep on the floor, Spence.’ She stated with a hidden wink, her words earning laughs from Morgan and Garcia, and further stifled smiles from Hotch and Rossi.

He smiled inwardly at her use of his nickname in front of their friends, hoping that she would keep her legs resting on his lap the whole flight. She didn’t plan to move from her quite comfortable and intimately close position across Spencer, not moving even once she had fallen asleep. He shortly joined her in a sleeping state after propping his own legs on the empty seat opposite him, the weight on his lap soothing him.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I got carried away and kept writing. Here you go, hope you enjoy it :)

Once they had landed in Quantico, Rossi left the group and called a cab, Charlie had assumed this was to continue the date that had been interrupted the other night. The seven others piled into the two SUVs they had left parked there before the flight to Anchorage, Charlie and Spencer acting as if they had coincidentally ended up sat next to each other again. They reached headquarters at 5pm, and since everyone was all caught up on sleep, they decided to get started on the routine piles of paperwork.

JJ, Garcia and Hotch had all sought the peace and quiet of their own offices, leaving the rest of the team in the bullpen to keep themselves entertained as they worked. The time spent working was interspersed with numerous distractions to prevent boredom setting in; Charlie frequently started competitions to see who could make the best paper aeroplanes, competitions that Morgan and Prentiss took very seriously. Spencer would feign indifference at these contests but would gloat when he always won, chalking it up to having a ‘basic understanding’ of aerodynamics.

Prompted by her growling stomach, Charlie decided that the team needed a pick me up and suggested they get pizzas delivered, visiting each of her co-worker’s offices to get the orders in. The pizza was exactly what everyone needed to keep their concentration until all the papers were finally completed.

‘Good work today,’ Hotch praised the group that had gathered in the bullpen, ‘Strauss has given everyone tomorrow off.’

Relieved smiles filled the room, everyone starting to consider how they would spend this rest day, Spencer planning a trip to his favourite bookstore across the city.

‘How about a few drinks?’ Morgan proposed, not ready to call it a day.

‘That sounds perfect.’ Prentiss agreed, seeing the many nods from around the room.

‘Can I invite Kevin?’ Garcia asked them, receiving a chorus of approvals.

As everyone grabbed their belongings, almost ready to leave, JJ posited to the group, ‘I can take four in my car.’

‘Who gets the privilege of riding with me then?’ Charlie asked, laughing when she saw everyone give each other apprehensive looks. She mocked offense before leaving for the locker room to remove her blazer and button up shirt, replacing them with the leather jacket she had left there that weekend. She grabbed her large helmet and the spare she kept in her locker, knowing someone was going have to wear it.

‘98% of multiple vehicle collisions and 96% of the single vehicle accidents resulted in some kind of injury to the motorcycle rider.’ Spencer informed her when she joined the group stepping into the elevator, causing her to smile at her feet while everyone else erupted in snickers.

Morgan called shotgun as JJ’s car came into view.

‘Nice try.’ Garcia said dramatically with fake pity before sitting in the front, followed by Prentiss taking one of the back seats. Morgan’s mouth gaped, looking to Kevin, and laughing when he only shrugged in return as if he should’ve known better. JJ looked behind her to see Spencer and Charlie lost in their own conversation, deciding to subtly rush the dawdling men into her car, sitting in the driving seat.

‘This I gotta see.’ Morgan wound down the window after he had squashed in next to Kevin, watching the calm expression of his friend that he knew wouldn’t last much longer.

Coming upon the full car, a confused Spencer looked between his friends’ faces, as he had assumed he would be riding in the car. The realisation of the alternative hitting him too late when Charlie came to his side as the car pulled out of the parking spot slowly.

‘Did you know that although motorcycles make up only 3% of all registered vehicles and 0.6% of all vehicle miles travelled in the United States, motorcyclists accounted for 14% of all traffic fatalities last year.’ He told her, trying to swallow the fear rising in his throat.

‘The Hurt report’s additional findings showed that wearing appropriate gear, specifically, a helmet, mitigates crash injuries substantially, so be sure to put this on’ She reassured him, pushing the extra helmet into his hands. He was caught out by the use of his own statistical technique against him, he should’ve known that she knew how to deal with him.

‘If you hold on tight, I will get you to the bar in one piece.’ She levelled with him, surprised at his relative calmness. She took her hair and twisted it in place before tucking it away safely into her helmet as she pulled it on expertly.

He copied how she put on her helmet and took a seat on the bike; he couldn’t believe he was doing something so dangerous voluntarily. His fears quelled when she grabbed his hands and pulled them round her middle, the feeling of her soft, cold grip reminding him he could trust her.

‘Hit my thigh twice if you ever want to stop and I’ll pull over, yeah?’ She told him, aware that this wasn’t something he’d ever done before and wanting to over assure him of his safety. She saw him nod a little and pulled down her visor before pulling out of her space and following the SUV above ground. If it weren’t for the fear wracking his body, he would’ve appreciated the feeling of his body pressed close to Charlie’s figure.

Sounds of traffic and wind whipped past Spencer’s ears, unconsciously causing his grip to tighten around his driver’s stomach. His eyes remained glued shut until curiosity got the better of him and one of his eyes cracked open, peeking out from hiding behind the woman in front of him. Opening both eyes and looking around him he understood why Charlie enjoyed this mode of transport, the motion blur of the streetlights and the feeling of the powerful vehicle between his legs was an intoxicating rush.

Charlie overtook the SUV, not that Spencer noticed, he was too busy taking in the speed of his surroundings. He wanted to bottle the complete experience to relive in short bursts whenever he needed an adrenaline boost but instead chose to immerse himself fully in the moment.

They arrived at bar parking lot before everyone else, the man taking a second to reconcile with the sudden loss of velocity. Charlie pulled off her helmet, letting her hair tumble past her shoulders and shaking it out gently as Spencer stared at her in wonder. She noticed his stillness and knocked on his helmet, laughing sweetly at him.

‘Not too bad is it?’ She asked after seeing Spencer’s surprisingly tranquil face emerge from the helmet.

A black SUV pulled into the lot and parked, Morgan headed straight for Charlie and Spencer.

‘Very cool Thomas, very cool.’ He said with a tinge of jealousy as he reached to fist bump the woman.

They picked a booth at the back of the quiet bar, a server coming over quickly to take their orders, Charlie revelling in the predictability of her friend’s orders. Garcia ordered something fruity with an obscene percentage of spirits, Prentiss ordered a beer, and Morgan ordered a whiskey. Spencer asked for an ice water before Morgan insisted that he get the same drink as him, eager for the rare chance to see his friend drunk. If it hadn’t been a weeknight, Kevin would have ordered a beer instead of a coke, likewise, if JJ didn’t have to drive everyone home, she would’ve had a large gin and tonic. Charlie followed Kevin in ordering a coke as she had to drive herself home, and the drinks arrived shortly after.

She took off her warm jacket and hung it on the back of her chair, revealing a low-cut black camisole and the lacy edges of a bralette under it, only causing Spencer to choke on his drink a little bit. In the middle of Garcia telling one of the few hilarious stories their job had granted them, the waitress returned and planted a glass with what looked to be coke in front of Charlie.

‘Oh, I didn’t order another drink, sorry.’ She politely corrected the mistake and turned back to her friends.

‘No, you didn’t, this is from the man at the bar.’ The waitress smiled kindly as she nodded towards the man in a suit sat at the bar. From the brief look she awarded the man, she saw he was handsome, well built and definitely her type, however his sudden attention made her cringe. She turned a shade of bright red as everyone around the table looked expectantly at her, grinning madly into their drinks. When she turned to give an awkward and pained smile to the man he winked at her and most of the table failed to supress their laughs. Spencer’s deadly glare was directed at his drink, the obviousness of his silence being clear to the only person paying attention to him, which was luckily the one person he wanted the attention of.

‘Here, have this. I don’t want it.’ Charlie’s slight disgust while rejecting the gift was music to his ears, when she passed the drink to him, he took it gleefully with a stupid smile plastered on his face. She hated being embarrassed, especially in front of her team, it took a lot of her willpower to not confront the man, but she wasn’t going to let him ruin the good time she was having.

Spencer ignored the bitter taste of the soda and drank it quickly, making sure to be in full view of the man to rub it in his face, not that he would admit it. Charlie watched his body language change from guarded to more open and confident once she passed him the drink, the alcohol being only a minor influence. She liked the way he started to take up more of her space, placing an arm round the back of her chair and leaning in slightly whenever she spoke. She enjoyed the jealous and possessive glimmer in his eyes, it was a look completely foreign to his features.

They got another round in before Spencer began talking loudly and getting stares from patrons of the slowly filling bar, while believing himself to be whispering. He didn’t have too much experience with drinking as during his college years he had been too young to drink, but he saw the appeal. His head swam with funny thoughts, he laughed heartily at his friend’s witty remarks and stared unabashedly dumbstruck at Charlie. She didn’t mind his loud words or uninhibited stares, encouraging his happy behaviour much to their friend’s pretend shame.

‘I can take him home, I’m pretty tired anyway.’ Charlie offered as the group suggested he go home, standing up and putting on her jacket. She coaxed Spencer easily out of his seat, and they said goodbye to everyone.

‘Do I get to ride on your motorbike again?’ He asked giddily while Charlie pushed open the bar door ahead of him.

‘Only if you promise to behave.’ She chided playfully, enjoying this more laidback side of Spencer.

‘I can’t promise that.’ She couldn’t miss the flirty tone of his reply, but she couldn’t believe just how transparent he was being compared to his usual coyness.

‘Quit messing around, I’m taking you home.’ She asserted while pulling one of the helmets over his head, before putting on her own.

Charlie was glad to make it to Spencer’s apartment complex, she was sure that she would turn around to find the man missing from his seat on her bike sooner or later.

‘Are you going back to the bar after this?’ He asked as he fiddled with his keys, trying to pick out the correct one.

‘No, I’ll just head home.’ She watched as the smartest man she knew tried and failed to enter his key into the lock, finally taking it off him and unlocking it herself, ushering him inside.

‘Did you leave just to drop me off?’ He questioned from the doorway, his face showing a sadness, feeling like he was a burden on her.

‘Well, yeah, but it’s fine. I had to make sure you got home safe.’ She admitted sheepishly.

‘So, you’re not busy right now?’ His tone shifted again, a cheeky smile now playing on his lips that Charlie was trying to avoid making eye contact with.

‘No?’ She asked back confused, not seeing where his questions were going.

‘Did you want to come in for a coffee? I don’t want to sober up alone.’ He confessed only half-lying; his tone more serious than it had been at the bar.

‘I could stay for a bit, sure.’ She agreed less eagerly than was true.

She followed him into the complex, climbing the stairs while Spencer made drunk conversation with her. He didn’t even try to open his apartment door, instead picking out the correct key and handing it straight to Charlie causing a small laugh to escape her chest. As they got into the apartment Spencer was still babbling about various alcohol statistics, he then collapsed onto his sofa, his voice becoming muffled against the cushions.

‘Pardon?’ She found him very amusing in this state.

‘Do you want a coffee?’ He repeated, lifting his head from the sofa it had been pressed against.

‘Yes, but I’ll make it, don’t want you pouring boiling liquid down yourself.’ As concerned as she was at his mobility capabilities, making the coffee meant she could look around Spencer’s living room and kitchen more closely. She had worked with him for a while, so she had seen how he kept his desk, but his home was completely different. Books were shoved into every conceivable nook and cranny, even where they arguably shouldn’t be kept; in cabinets, stacked on the fridge, she even found one inside the fridge itself when she was looking for the creamer. She giggled at this discovery, she knew how distracted Spencer could get when he was deep in thought, she left the book where she found it, figuring he would find it when he needed it.

‘Your bracelets, what do they mean to you?’ He half-shouted from the sofa.

He didn’t have the energy to profile her any longer, he just wanted to get inside her head and have her tell him about her whole life.

She looked down at her wrist as she opened the tin of instant coffee she found in a cupboard next to some series of fantasy novels. She always forgot they were there until they got caught in her clothes, looking at them stirred a sad longing in her heart. The bracelets were distinct; one had two strands of red and purple, her favourite colours, woven together intricately, fastened by a small knot that made it impossible to take off. The second was made of three strands of pink, blue and white plaited together, and fitted slightly looser on her wrist with a button that made it easy to remove, not that she had taken it off since she got it.

‘Oh, uh, my friend made it for me when we were in middle school.’ She told him hesitantly, pouring hot water over the coffee and sugar granules.

‘What about the other one, you wear two right?’ He made sure he was correct, though he didn’t doubt the credibility of his memory.

‘The other one was hers.’ Her voice was smaller than her previous replies, she let the silence that followed her answer hang in the air while she put away everything she had taken out to make coffee.

Spencer didn’t ask her any more questions, he figured she would elaborate if she wanted to confide in him.

‘Here, please don’t spill it on yourself.’ She broke the silence as she handed Spencer the coffee, taking a sip, he was happy to find she had made it the way he liked.

‘Sharing a bed with you was nice, I don’t know if I’ll sleep right tonight if you’re not there’ Spencer said nonchalantly between two sips, Charlie swallowed the gulp of coffee she had taken, surprised at his boldness.

‘You’re drunk, you don’t know what you’re saying.’ She shrugged off the comments that made her heart flutter.

‘I’m sober! I’ll prove it to you.’ Spencer announced, setting his coffee on the counter next to the couch.

She could tell from his still elevated volume that he was lying through his teeth, she stared at him with raised eyebrows, broadcasting her disbelief.

‘Tell me 2 truths and a lie and I’ll tell you which is which.’ He pledged, confident in his abilities to decipher deception.

‘I don’t see how this proves how sober you are.’ Charlie stated sceptically.

‘Shh just say yes.’ He hushed her. Knowing how Spencer could be like a dog with a bone at times, she agreed.

After a minute of thinking, Charlie started her list, ‘Okay I’m a fully-‘

She stopped in her tracks when Spencer reached his hand across the space between them to plant his two forefingers on her pulse point. His eyes instructed her to continue speaking, completely unaware of her active panic to maintain a steady pulse after the sudden contact.

‘I’m a fully trained gymnast, I’m a black belt in 4 types of martial art, and I was born in Cyprus.’ She took her time with the list, pausing between each statement, waiting for a look of approval from the man to move on.

‘Martial arts is the lie.’ He decided, pulling his hand away slowly, the sudden loss of contact causing Charlie to shiver.

‘I’m only a black belt in 3 types, I’m a brown belt in another two though.’ She explained, finding herself wanting to show off to him.

‘That was easy though.’ Charlie conceded after a brief pause.

‘Then give me a hard one.’ He challenged her, his eyes conveying another new emotion she wasn’t used to seeing on him, lust.

She started another list after his hand found the sensitive part of her neck again, not paying attention to what she was saying or caring if she had even spoken two truths and a lie. When she finished her new statements, Spencer didn’t retract his hand from where it rested on her pulse. Instead, he placed his thumb on her jaw, tracing the jawline down to her lips, and stretched the rest of his fingers to the soft of her neck. Her pulse felt like he had imagined under his fingertips, if not slightly more erratic.

In his mind, Spencer conjured the many reasons for an increased heart rate: deception, excitation, anxiety, attraction. He determined the cause of Charlie’s sudden spike to be correlated with her dilated pupils and the rapid, eager glances at his lips.

Neither of them had realised how small the gap between them had gotten until their lips met with an intense anticipation. Their lips parted and crashed together again rapidly as their bodies ached to be closer, leaning into each other as much as their positions on the sofa would allow. Charlie’s hands found the back of Spencer’s neck, her fingers creeping into his hair as she gently grabbed at it, earning a happy gasp from him. He moved his hand from her neck to join the other one already on her waist, rubbing circles onto the small of her back.

As Spencer guided Charlie onto his lap, she happily followed his lead, reciprocating his enthusiasm by sucking on his lower lip, holding it between her lips for a second. This set off a chain reaction of hungry kisses and explorative hands wandering everywhere they could reach.

A short sequence of buzzes against her thigh made her pull away from Spencer reluctantly and search her pocket for the source. She cursed when she JJ’s name pop up on her screen, she knew she couldn’t ignore a call from her, so she answered it.

‘Just wanted to check you and Spencer got home safe?’ JJ asked down the phone, Charlie could hear the rest of her friends chattering in the background and assumed they hadn’t left the bar yet.

‘Yeah JJ, all safe.’ She partially brushed off JJ’s question, keen to get off the phone.

Spencer started to kiss her neck while her mouth was otherwise occupied, feeling the vibrations of the words in her throat against his lips. He enjoyed the shaky breathing coming from Charlie as she tried to mask her rapid breaths from the woman on the phone.

‘Have a good night Charlie.’ JJ said, her smile audible even down the phone.

Charlie hung up the phone impatiently and threw phone down to the other end of sofa, then retook Spencer’s mouth on hers as their bodies melted together. He moved them from being sat upright to lying horizontally across the sofa with her still sat comfortably on him. As he laid his head on the armrest while maintaining the high demand for kisses, he knocked the forgotten coffee off the side table onto the floor.

‘Sorry.’ He quickly apologised for the accident. Charlie couldn’t ignore the small slur to his words, she stood up and offered a hand to help the now despondent man off the sofa.

She ran to the kitchen to grab the paper towels she had seen on the counter earlier, arguing with herself in her head. On one hand, she knew he had been feeling like this for the past few days and that the alcohol had just given him the push he needed, but on the other, she didn’t want to take advantage of his drunken state.

‘I should go Spence, you get some sleep, yeah?’ She blurted once Spencer was down to wiping up the last drops of liquid from the table, grabbing her things and heading to the door, not giving him any chance to entice her to stay. She knew she wouldn’t be able to say no to him if he asked her to say, but she didn’t want their relationship to start like this, if he did want a relationship after all.

Before he could stop her, she had left the apartment, closing the door behind her. She clenched her fists and held her eyes closed for a moment, trying to centre herself back in reality then starting her drive home.

He watched out of the window of his living room as she mounted her bike and drove away down the street, still holding coffee-stained paper towels. His mind kicked into overdrive as he tried to figure out why Charlie had left so suddenly.

What had he done wrong? She kissed him back, enthusiastically as well. He knew he didn’t have much practice in this department, but he could at least tell she was enjoying herself, up until he showed his clumsiness.

Did the spilled coffee remind her who she was kissing? Maybe the proximity had just gotten to her and he had been reading her wrong the whole time they had been together over the past three days.

Would she rather be with the buff guy from the bar? Spencer knew there were physical traits he didn’t possess that many other men did, including the man from the bar, did he remind her what she could be missing out on by choosing to spend time with him?

His mind churned out increasingly demoralising conclusions as he tried to sleep that night, confirming his fears of sleeping worse without Charlie’s presence in the bed.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Got carried away with the last chapter, hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it.

Charlie spent the morning checking her phone more often than usual, just in case Spencer had called in the 30 seconds since she last picked it up. Her mind spiralled into excuses for why he hadn’t called her yet; he was still sleeping after being drunk the night before, or he was hungover. She couldn’t bear to think about the alternative, not when his loving touch and fervent kisses were still fresh in her mind.

A small voice in her head told her he wouldn’t call, that it was all a drunken mistake. She had to leave his flat last night, didn’t she? She couldn’t take advantage of his drunken state, she knew he wasn’t used to it.

Catching her reflection in a mirror as she undressed to have a shower, she saw suspicious light bruises peppered on her shoulders, creeping up her neck. She traced the tangible yet ghostly outline of his lips with her fingertips, immediately being reminded of the dream she had that night, causing a blush to settle on her face. It could easily be covered with foundation, but they were hardly noticeable. She didn’t know why it disappointed her that the marks would be too faint to see in most light.

She couldn’t spend all day waiting around for him, she needed to clear her head, so she decided to blow off steam at the gym. She got changed into black leggings and a matching sports bra, turning her phone to silent as she dropped her badge and gun into her bag instinctively. Just as she opened the door, the thought of lunch occurred to her, so she grabbed an apple from her kitchen counter to eat while she walked to the gym.

Spencer woke up at 10am which was abnormally late for him, not hungover but bone tired. He walked to his small kitchen to make himself a cup of coffee for breakfast, stopping dead in his tracks when he saw two mugs in the sink. Almost running to his sofa to check everything wasn’t a dream, he saw a small stain on the rug, bringing a wide smile to his face. He blissfully relived every moment then became disheartened when he remembered Charlie’s sudden change of heart. He had settled on the gloomy conclusion that Charlie regretted what happened, and that’s why she left. He could analyse the behaviour of unsubs, witnesses, and victims, but she had completely stumped him. He was convinced she felt the same way he did, from the way she unconsciously mirrored his gestures to how her eyes lingered on him for just a second too long while they were on their last case.

Pulling his stare from the sofa for what had to be the seventh time that morning, he elected to escape the many vivid flashbacks of Charlie by visiting his favourite bookstore.

Armchairs were scattered around the reception of the bookstore, many occupied by people enthralled in the worlds they held in their hands. He gave a familiar nod to the person behind the counter before making his way upstairs to collect two books he ordered in.

Spencer had spent a lot of afternoons and evenings in his most loved bookstore, it was large enough that he could go for hours without seeing anyone. He enjoyed the rough texture of the book spines and the unique smell of the crisp paper as he flicked through pages upon pages, losing himself in the ink.

His attention was drawn to the vibration of his mobile in his pocket, reminding him of the call Charlie had taken last night. This association quickly led to the recollection of many small and unexpected details he had noticed while so close to her, like the faint acrid taste of the remnants of perfume on her neck.

A second vibration ripped him from his thoughts, checking his phone to see two texts from Garcia’s cell.

_Hope you weren’t having too much fun on your day off boy wonder, we have a case. ( **13:22pm** )_

_Get here ASAP. ( **13:22pm** )_

He shot off a quick text acknowledging her instructions, then paid for the books he had accumulated, putting them in his satchel and leaving towards the closest metro station. On the way, his phone buzzed again, a prolonged rhythm indicating a call, he was surprised to see Garcia’s caller ID.

‘Yeah Garcia?’ He asked down the phone.

‘Can you pick Charlie up? She isn’t answering her phone but according to her schedule she’s at the gym.’ Her tone told him it wasn’t really a request.

His suspicion boiled as he thought about why Garcia had called him, other members of the team were arguably friendlier with her. They couldn’t know what had happened, could they?

‘Why are you asking me to get her?’ He disguised his question with a tone of indifference.

‘I tracked your GPS and you’re closest. Her gym’s the big one on the corner of 54th and 6th.’

He sighed as he looked up to the signpost at the intersection at 54th and 5th.

‘Tell Hotch that we’ll be there soon.’ He the call disconnect.

He had a block to walk and think about what he would say to Charlie. His initial excitement caused snapshots of last night to once again race through his mind, coincidentally leaving out the last events until he had to face it. If Charlie regretted what happened, he didn’t want to make things awkward between them, he made the decision to act as if it hadn’t happened. He would follow her lead in however she addressed everything but would not bring it up to spare her any embarrassment.

He arrived at the large gym and ignoring his feelings of discomfort, showed his badge to the receptionist to get through to the main room to find his co-worker. His eyes darted around the room, not wanting to look at anyone or anything too long, until he saw the familiar flash of Charlie’s hair.

Her hair had been pulled back out of her face, she was wearing tight black leggings and a sports bra that reminded him of the bralette he had accidentally seen when she was changing. She was on a mat in front of a section of wall covered in mirrors, meaning he could see every muscle in her arms and shoulders strain and flex as she did push ups.

He felt his cheeks heat up and pulse quicken, he couldn’t help but stop and stare, unable to think of any words to say. She stretched her chest and core as she rested her legs and hips on the matt, shifting from a push-up position to a yoga pose.

All too quickly, she looked up and saw him in the reflection, rolling onto her side and smiling instinctively as she took out one earphone. Her music was blasting loud enough for him to hear the heavy bass even from where he was stood a few feet behind her.

‘You stalking me or something Spence?’ She joked, happy but confused to see him. He wasn’t dressed for the gym, nor did she have him pegged for someone who cared about going.

Her controlled cadence hid the whirl of thoughts and emotions that filled her body and mind set off by the unexpected appearance. The second she saw him, her mind conjured images worthy of a rom-com: Spencer trying to call her but getting sent to voicemail, going to her apartment to find it empty, then finally tracing her to the gym for a dramatic confession.

‘We’ve got to go to Quantico; Garcia couldn’t get a hold of you, so she sent me. I was only round the corner.’ He ignored her cheeky question, happy to hear her friendly tone, he considered that their relationship might return to what it once was.

Her face fell in disappointment; he hadn’t searched her out to talk to her, Charlie’s romantic persuasion had gotten the best of her. The passion in her heart quickly soured into anger, pointed at her own foolishness and she had to move her glare from the man in front of her down to the mat she was still sat on.

A man as tall as spencer but three times as wide walked up to where they were talking, she noticed while she was working out that he had been watching her. It was a force of habit that she took inventory of her surroundings, and who may be paying a little too much attention to her.

‘Hey sweetcheeks, you shouldn’t be with a dweeb like this, I could show you a good time.’ The cockiness of his words made her want to gag, only fuelling her bubbling and burning anger.

Charlies eyes rolled as she rose slowly with her fists clenched, her long nails digging painfully into her palms. She was much shorter in stature than the man but radiated a strong aura of impatience and unbridled fury.

She pulled her badge from her hoodie that was slumped on the floor next to her matt, holding it up, she channelled her temper at the man.

‘I’m a federal agent, so unless you want your life ruined by untraceable annoyances that will slowly eat away at your sanity for years to come, you’re going to back off now.’ Her tone and posture were that of twice her size, however her words only garnered a nervous laugh from the man before he reached forward to touch her face.

She quickly grabbed his thumb, twisting his hand outwards, flippantly close to the point at which she knew something would break, satisfied to see him buckle to his knees with watery eyes.

‘I said back off.’ She punctuated each of her words with applied pressure on the man’s wrist, finally releasing it and forcefully pushing it back to him. It felt good for her to relent to her nature, especially when it was inflicted on someone she believed to be deserving. She relished in the overwhelming power she felt standing over the crumpled man, only realising her anger had not diminished as the man jogged to the locker room, cradling his hand.

‘You okay?’ Spencer asked the woman tentatively, he knew she had a short fuse, but she usually kept it under control. This side to Charlie was unfamiliar to him, the look in her eyes as she nearly broke the man’s arm unlike one he had ever seen in her.

She grabbed her things from the floor hurriedly, ‘Asshole.’ She muttered out loud for Spencer’s benefit, stringing additional colourful labels in her head as she left the scene, headed straight for the exit.

He wondered why she had her FBI identification on her, until he realised that he went everywhere with his too, a little too eager to use it. He was glad for the moment alone as he tried to catch up to the speed walking woman, he could attempt to predict the upcoming conversations.

They walked in a charged silence, Spencer could almost hear Charlie’s thoughts as they ricocheted violently through her mind. With no discussion they walked to the Metro station as neither had driven, much to Spencer’s relief, which he joked with the woman, receiving only a tense side eye in return.

Spencer watched as Charlie stabbed the button for their floor, finally deciding to address the elephant in the room, hoping to ease the suffocating tension in the air between them.

‘We can pretend-‘ Spencer started to talk as the doors of elevator closed, trapping them momentarily.

‘Listen, it didn’t happen, okay?’ She snapped resentfully, venom dripping from her words as she kept going over in her head how she could have been so wrong about him.

Her words registered with him and washed him in an empty melancholy. She practically ran out of the elevator when it reached their floor, leaving Spencer to trail after her into the conference room, still feeling trapped, the lift being replaced with his own spiralling thoughts.

When she walked into the conference room, Morgan raised his eyebrows at her, scanning her outfit and determining what their work call had interrupted.

‘It was our day off, don’t look at me like that.’ She addressed him, realising a lack in the jokey tone usually present in their interactions, he immediately eased off, raising his hands apologetically.

Hotch apologised briefly for bringing them in after just giving them the day off before letting JJ brief the team on kidnappings in the DC area. The unsub left ransom notes written by the victims in the local precincts, it was clear by the messages they didn’t have much time to find the kidnapped women alive.

‘Reid, Thomas, you stay here and help Garcia. Compare the handwriting on the letters with samples from the family of the victims, check if they match and build a geographical profile we can work with.’ Hotch instructed them, Charlie bit the inside of her lips and clenched her jaw, distressed at the thought of spending the day with Spencer while her frustration with him was still fresh.

‘Prentiss, Morgan, Rossi, visit the victim’s homes, see if you can get anything there. JJ and I will head to the station to meet the lead detective and coordinate the media. Work quickly, we don’t know how much time we have.’ And with the final plea, the agents stood and rushed out to their assignments, hoping to get any information that could to prevent the deaths of the five women reported missing.

Charlie collected her thoughts, knowing she couldn’t let her hostility towards her co-worker hinder the investigation. Looking for an excuse to leave, she knew when he had finished going over the handwriting, he would want to start on the geographical profile and what he would need to do it.

‘You start with the handwriting; I’ll go see Garcia and get the locations of the kidnappings plotted on a map.’ Her words left no room for alteration by emotion, quickly leaving Spencer alone in the conference room with the writing samples spread onto the table.

She slammed the annotated map onto the table in front of Spencer more aggressively than necessary, refusing to make eye contact with him for fear of getting lost in them as she so desperately wanted to. Her mind was in turmoil, conflicting desires and feelings told her to kiss him and never speak to him again at the same time. She tried to force her mind on her work, refamiliarizing herself with the stakes, but it was a mostly fruitless act. What riled her up even more was how Spencer looked the same as he always did, her anger didn’t make him less handsome. She caught herself staring as he concentrated on the writing in front of him and having to leave to take a breath when he removed his blazer and rolled up his sleeves.

They spent an hour of very few exchanged words, Spencer worked diligently at comparing the smallest mannerisms of the fonts, while Charlie combed through all of the available data they had on these girls, leaving frequently to escape her building temper.

When the man indicated he had finished his analysis of the handwriting, Charlie offered to call Hotch, putting him on speaker once he answered the phone.

‘All of the notes were definitely written by the corresponding victim, it looks like they were forced.’ Spencer said into the phone, hearing a strained breath on the other end.

‘Keep working, coordinate with the others to work on the link between the victims.’ Hotch hung up, common courtesy had unanimously ceased among the team, understanding every single second counted.

Charlie dialled Morgan’s cell, hoping they would have found something at the victim’s houses.

‘You guys got anything?’ Morgan asked before Charlie could, squashing her hopes at a revelation on their end.

‘The notes match the victims handwriting samples, they were coerced.’ Spencer repeated his conclusion to the man on the phone.

‘We don’t have much here, we’ve visited three of the victim’s homes so far. They were happy kids, no reason to think they’d want to run away and nothing obvious linking them yet.’ Morgan said disappointed.

‘They didn’t share any classes or live in the same neighbourhood; the unsub definitely stalked them or knew their schedule.’ Prentiss said after taking the phone from Morgan.

‘So, the only link we have is that they were all at the same school?’ Charlie asked impatiently.

‘So far. Let us know if you find anything, we’re going to visit the last two victims houses then head to their school. We’ll check in after we talk to their teachers.’ Prentiss replied before promptly hanging up.

The pre-existing silence in the room was deafening after the call terminated, the woman gripping the desk with her eyes clenched closed, hounding herself for what she could be missing. It was starting to get to her that they hadn’t had a break in the case yet, she couldn’t help but think about how she usually has helpful insight by now. She shook herself from her selfishly prioritised thoughts, sliding a marker across the table to Spencer for him to start mapping the women’s homes before returning to the case files in front of her.

A ring shatters the silence, looking up to the clock and realising another hour had passed while she had been working. Charlie jolts to pick up the phone and answer it.

‘What have you got?’ Morgan asked with an expectant tone.

‘Nothing.’ Charlie admitted, disappointed in herself.

‘Come on, we’re counting on you. What’s going on?’ Morgan pressed her; his agitated words stuck replaying in her mind even after he had ended the call.

Morgan had amplified the thoughts that started to eat away at her since she lost focus on her work, that she was rendered incompetent by her unrelenting anger. She thought back to the incident in the gym; she hadn’t snapped like that in years, she had learnt to control her outbursts, or at least she thought she had.

‘That wasn’t fair of him, he knows you’re working hard. We all are.’ Spencer reassured her gently, vanquishing the anguish in her mind. She knew they could solve the case but they had to work together.

Her expression softened as she relaxed the muscles in her face, finally releasing the toxic rage that filled her veins. Nothing could be more important right now than getting the kidnapped girls back unharmed, every single thought she had that wasn’t actively helping the investigation was a waste.

‘He’s right, something is going on, but we can do this.’ Her change in tone and expression relieved him, he smiled at her choice of words as she looked at him with a determined but kind gaze.

‘Three of the victims have been written up for underage drinking. The other two are completely clean.’ Charlie started, Spencer looking up at her, ‘There must be someone they know who has access to alcohol, an older brother?’ She moved her thoughts on, she hadn’t waited until she hit 21 to drink, it wasn’t unusual, she needed to come up with more concrete theories.

They spent half an hour going back and forth about everything they knew about the victims, throwing questions at each other that went unanswered and only sparked more questions in return.

‘We have two distinct types of victims that have been taken, the pupils with low GPAs that have had run ins with the police, and the typical over achievers that took as many extra curriculars as possible.’ She determined, she was used to the victims usually being very similar, it was easier to profile the unsub that way. She picked up their school reports and looked at their grades from earlier school years.

‘Hold on, the 2 overachievers were doing comparatively poorly in their subjects. Their GPAs have dropped over the years, from exceptionally bright children to above average students.’ She reviewed the information in front of her, passively reading aloud what stood out.

‘It happens to a lot of kids.’ Spencer contributed.

‘These grades aren’t good enough for their chosen colleges, they had to complete all the extra curriculars to even be considered with these grades.’ She continued, Spencer noticing her eyes darting around the air in front of her as if mapping out her thoughts.

‘That’s a lot of pressure, no wonder their grades were slipping.’ He encouraged her to continue down her train of thought.

‘What would link these seemingly opposite victims?’ She thought back to her days at school, like the girls she had been a gifted child but was left under stimulated so consequently suffered later on in school. The only thing that helped her grades recover was her ADHD diagnosis and subsequent Adderall prescription, only then understanding how her peer’s school experience. She also remembered how popular her prescription had made her, she had been naïve to their motivations initially but had pieced everything together once she had found pills missing for the third time. The realisation reached her face as she stood up and made for the door.

Spencer followed Charlie all the way to Garcia’s office, barely catching up before she started talking to their teammate sat at her computer.

‘Garcia can you find out if any pupils in the school had parents that worked in pharmacies that stocked Adderall?’ The look on her face conveyed the importance of her request.

‘Nothing.’ Garcia replied quickly, ready for her next task.

Charlie’s brow furrowed as she reconsidered her question, she settled on the next best question to ask.

‘Can you get up a list of staff for those all of the pharmacies in DC that stock it?’ She asked again, undeterred from the previous

’44 living within the area you highlighted.’ Garcia said, looking at the long list of names on her screen.

‘Any of those have frequent access to the school?’ Charlie continued, leaning over Garcia’s shoulder to analyse the names in front of them.

‘Here’s one, Harvey White, a part time worker at a local pharmacy is also a janitor at the school the girls go to.’ Garcia found, pulling up various employment documents for the man.

‘What’s his history?’ Spencer asked, more interested in Charlie’s line of interrogation.

‘White started working in the high school three months ago, but he filed to have his name changed two years ago after he was fired from a teaching position at a school three hours from here. He lost his licence to teach.’ Garcia the read the information from her screen as she dug deeper into his past.

‘Does it say why he was fired?’ Charlie wasn’t sure whether it was Spencer or her that started asking the question first, it didn’t matter to her to pay attention.

‘Local gossip column shared an interview with a pupil that found out he was selling drugs and alcohol to students, then told the headmaster. They even put her picture in, she would have been bullied hard for snitching on him.’

‘Look at her.’ Spencer said, noting the similarities between this girl’s photo and their victims.

‘I know. She was a client, he’s getting revenge.’ Charlie concluded with a sad satisfaction.

She swiftly pulled out her phone and dialled Morgan’s cell, hoping to catch him while he was still at the school.

‘Tell me the good news Thomas.’ Morgan’s voice came down the phone, with less of the attitude he had earlier, she thought that Prentiss may have called him out on it.

‘Can you find out if Harvey White showed up for work today?’ Charlie instructed him.

After a few seconds filled with muffled voices, Morgan answered her, ‘He didn’t.’

‘He’s our unsub, I’ll send you his address.’ Charlie announced decisively.

‘Already done.’ Garcia typed furiously at her keyboard before dramatically hitting the enter key.

‘Darling, you just made my day. I’ll tell Hotch and get SWAT down there.’ Morgan said with a smile in his voice.

As they waited on any word from the rest of their team, Garcia, Spencer and Charlie put together the unsubs background. When he was fired, he lost his house and income, having to relocate and find a new job under a new name to further himself from his past. After a string of failed attempts at keeping jobs, he got one at the victim’s school as a janitor. He then started his business back up again where he offered to buy alcohol for the underaged teens and selling drugs on the side. He was paranoid and seeking revenge for the perceived wrongs against him.

Hotch called and told them they had found all the girls safe and the Harvey White had been arrested. Finally, a tangible weight lifted from everyone’s shoulders.

The momentary high she felt from their success came crashing down as Spencer smiled at her, reminding her. Charlie used the excuse of having a shower and change out of her workout gear to get some time to think alone before the team arrived back for the debrief. She walked out of Garcia’s office towards the locker rooms. Spencer followed her, bracing himself for the difficult yet necessary conversation about what happened between them.

She heard the door open and close behind her as she took out the clothes she had packed in her gym bag and folded them on the benches outside the shower cubicles.

‘We need to talk about last night..’ He began calmly, not wanting her to storm away from this conversation again.

‘Why didn’t you call?’ She confronted him, maddened by his even tone, was he really so nonchalant about the whole thing?

‘Why did you leave?’ He shot back, his voice rising to match hers.

‘You were drunk. I figured you’d regret it, which you clearly do.’ Her tone was as resentful as it had been earlier that afternoon.

‘I reckoned that you wanted to forget about it.’ His voiced dropped, showing the sincerity in his belief.

‘Even if I wanted to, I couldn’t forget it. Every movement, every taste, every feeling from last night plays on a loop whenever I look at you!’ She couldn’t stop the emotional outburst, and her passion wouldn’t let her lie about her feelings to him.

He knew what she meant, if he closed his eyes even for a second, he could see the image of her on top of him, kissing him over and over again.

‘I don’t regret it, if I was sober, I would’ve still kissed you.’ Her eyes met his with a soft vulnerability.

‘Kissing you wasn’t the mistake, leaving your apartment without explaining was.’ Feeling her frustration dissipating into, she took a step towards him.

‘I can’t stop thinking about you.’ Spencer almost whispered, placing a hand on Charlie’s neck and finding her pulse with his thumb unintentionally, the contact and rhythm comforted him.

Their lips met again, not with the slow sweetness that came with the first kiss the night before, but with a fiery intensity born out of the tense environment they had shared that day. Charlie’s hands reached to Spencer’s back, absent-mindedly dragging her nails lightly up the length of his spine, the sensation causing him to open his mouth into the kiss. With the burst of energy this action gave her, she pushed the man against the lockers behind him, watching for his reaction. He opened his eyes to see Charlie’s face painted with desire and picked her up, kissing her neck and backing her into the cubicle next to them, only stopping the continuous contact to lock the shower door behind them.

‘You’re surprisingly strong.’ Her voice was breathy and quivering, Spencer was quick to return to her embrace. Her skin burned against his touch as he took her face into his hands again, recapturing her lips greedily as she hummed against the sudden force.

Spencer guided them towards the wall behind Charlie, pressing her against it. She felt something dig into her back before twisting slightly, within seconds they felt droplets of water on their heads. She quickly reached for the shower dial and stopped the flow of water, turning to see Spencer hadn’t been caught quite as much as she had. They burst into fits of laughter and Charlie grabbed the towel on the back of the door to wipe the man down, managing to remove most traces of the accident.

Spencer looked at his watch, ‘It’s been a while since the team called, they’ll be back any minute.’

‘So why aren’t you leaving?’ She asked, an innocent smile on her lips but the knowing tone gave her away.

Brushing some strands of hair that had fallen onto her face, he took his time to glide each of his fingers across her face. The droplets of cold water on her face contrasted against the flushed heat of her skin.

‘I don’t want to.’ He divulged, staring deeply into her eyes.

‘Then kiss me.’ She demanded. He obliged, taking her into his arms for one last prolonged kiss before he had to leave. She made sure to leave him wanting more; enjoying the cute, baffled look on his face when she broke off their kiss and pushed him out of the cubicle.

He rounded the corner to watch Morgan, Prentiss and Rossi emerge from elevator, Rossi saw Spencer’s blushed cheeks and still damp shirt and flashed him a knowing smile. He looked around, not sure whether it was obvious what he had just returned from but praying that it wasn’t.

Charlie entered the conference room shortly after Hotch and JJ had arrived, receiving a chorus of smiles and greetings from the whole team.

‘Spencer told us how you got the unsub, good work Thomas.’ Hotch congratulated her, followed by numerous other affirmations around the room.

‘It was a team effort.’ She said humbly, knowing she couldn’t have done it without Spencer or Garcia’s hard work on the background, handwriting or geographical profile.

‘Whatever was going on today, I’m glad you got through it.’ Morgan said in a low volume, sensing a completely different vibe in his colleague than he had seen earlier.

‘I was distracted, but I worked it out. It won’t happen again.’ She smiled, glancing over to Spencer and sharing a satisfied smile.


End file.
